Thursday, July 11, 2013

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Smile a little harder.

ARTIST OF THE DAYAshes Remain

Ashes Remain’s Josh Smith and Ryan Nalepa (guitar/keys) met one summer leading worship at a youth camp located in rural Maryland - not too far from Gettysburg, PA. Over the course of that summer, Smith and Nalepa had a feeling that God was calling them to walk down similar paths. Desiring to be obedient to God’s will, Smith and Nalepa committed to pray together each day throughout the summer, asking God that if He wanted them to form a band to make His will known to them.

Months later, Smith, back in Florida, received a phone call from a church in Maryland inviting him to lead worship full time. It just so happened that the church was ten minutes down the road from Nalepa.

The band's Fair Trade Services debut What I've Become was written mostly for teenagers, from the perspective of what it is like to feel as if there is no hope, where you are your own worst enemy and ultimately what it looks like to go from that very real and dark place to one where there is hope and step into the light.

That journey from dark to light isn't always a swift one and sometimes has to be walked many times, but it is a journey that the band is familiar with and feels called to go on with their fans.

As lead vocalist Josh Smith puts it, “We’re just broken people who need Jesus.”

Sounds Like: Ashes Remain sounds like early Kutless mixed with some Skillet. Hard-hitting rock with a heart for worship.